In Monday’s “Halftime Report,” investor Stephanie Link shared three investment strategies, including battered local bank stocks, that she thinks have potential as the market recovers. Stocks rose across the board on Monday after President Donald Trump suggested the United States and Iran were having “productive” dialogue on resolving ongoing hostilities in the Middle East. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 1,100 points at its peak, reversing Friday’s sharp decline. Amid the rally, Mr. Link, chief investment strategist at Hightower Advisors, named Truist Financial as one of his favorite stocks. She likes the name even though the financial services sector is down more than 3% in March alone and the stock lags its peers. He also said he would buy more shares in Trust. “I think this company is doing really great things with new management and a new strategy to grow profitability by 15% this year and 16% next year,” Link said. Link commented that the company is currently trading at 0.9 times book value, adding that historically it is always a good idea to buy banks at below book value. She also pointed out that an era of deregulation is beginning as another catalyst. “As a result, I think banks across the board will actually start increasing share buybacks and dividends,” she said. Trust’s stock price has fallen more than 8% in 2026, and its current dividend yield is 4.6%. On Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported that two senators will introduce a bill that would ban sports betting on prediction markets such as Calci and Polymarket. Link acknowledged that the bill could have an “overall impact” on casino stocks, but supported Las Vegas Sands ownership. “About 60% of their business is in Macau and 40% in Singapore. They’re very energetic,” she said of the casino operator. Las Vegas Sands stock price will fall more than 16% in 2026. Link also said he owns the iShares MSCI Brazil ETF (EWZ) index, which is up 16% this year. He said the South American country would benefit from increased demand for electricity to fuel artificial intelligence data centers. The ETF’s constituents include nickel and copper miner Vale. “This country is the seventh largest country in the world, and most people think of it as just a commodity country, but it has made quite a bit of progress in the fintech space,” Link said. “And guess what they have that everyone else wants? That’s power. So they’re going to benefit from the whole AI data center, the grid power theme that we’ve been talking about for years,” Link added. “I like what they’re doing financially and financially.”
